ReviewEpigenetics2011
The early life social environment and DNA methylation: DNA methylation mediating the long-term impact of social environments early in life.
Review in Epigenetics, 2011. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 63 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
63 citing papers in PubMed.
- Psychosocial adversity and socioeconomic position during childhood and epigenetic age: analysis of two prospective cohort studies.Human molecular genetics · 2018Trial
- Efficacy of oxytocin administration early after psychotrauma in preventing the development of PTSD: study protocol of a randomized controlled trial.BMC psychiatry · 2014Trial
- Epigenetic Changes Associated With a Phenotypic Transition in Namibian Cheetahs.Molecular ecology · 2026Article
- Further integrating social context into comparative and environmental physiology.The Journal of experimental biology · 2026Review
- Placental biology links genetic, epigenetic, ancestral, and social determinants to maternal-fetal health inequities.Frontiers in reproductive health · 2026Review
- Genetics and pathogenesis of scoliosis.North American Spine Society journal · 2024Article
- Social Capital Associates With Better Cognitive Health, Oral Health and Epigenetic Age Deceleration: Findings From the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging.International journal of aging & human development · 2024Article
- Epigenetic mechanisms of rapid-acting antidepressants.Translational psychiatry · 2024Review
- Epigenetic signatures of social status in wild female spotted hyenas (Crocuta crocuta).Communications biology · 2024Article
- DNA methylation signatures of early-life adversity are exposure-dependent in wild baboons.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2024Article
- DNA methylation signatures of early life adversity are exposure-dependent in wild baboons.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2023Article
- Investigating the effects of maltreatment and acute stress on the concordance of blood and DNA methylation methods of estimating immune cell proportions.Clinical epigenetics · 2023Article
- Methyl Donors, Epigenetic Alterations, and Brain Health: Understanding the Connection.International journal of molecular sciences · 2023Review
- No evidence for intervention-associated DNA methylation changes in monocytes of patients with posttraumatic stress disorder.Scientific reports · 2022Article
- Clomifene and Assisted Reproductive Technology in Humans Are Associated with Sex-Specific Offspring Epigenetic Alterations in Imprinted Control Regions.International journal of molecular sciences · 2022Article
- First Steps towards the Development of Epigenetic Biomarkers in Female Cheetahs (Life (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Article
- Association Between Childhood Maltreatment,Frontiers in psychiatry · 2022Article
- Article
- The role of DNA methylation in syndromic and non-syndromic congenital heart disease.Clinical epigenetics · 2021Review
- Article
3 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
1 author.
Funding
Abstract
Although epidemiological data provides evidence that there is an interaction between genetics (nature) and the social and physical environments (nurture) in human development; the main open question remains the mechanism. The pattern of distribution of methyl groups in DNA is different from cell-type to cell type and is conferring cell specific identity on DNA during cellular differentiation and organogenesis. This is an innate and highly programmed process. However, recent data suggests that DNA methylation is not only involved in cellular differentiation but that it is also involved in modulation of genome function in response to signals from the physical, biological and social environments. We propose that modulation of DNA methylation in response to environmental cues early in life serves as a mechanism of life-long genome "adaptation" that molecularly embeds the early experiences of a child ("nurture") in the genome ("nature"). There is an emerging line of data supporting this hypothesis in rodents, non-human primates and humans that will be reviewed here. However, several critical questions remain including the identification of mechanisms that transmit the signals from the social environment to the DNA methylation/demethylation enzymes.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.